A defense expert in Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial on Monday told jurors that the crime scene suggests the slaying of his wife and son was the work of two shooters.
Prosecutors allege that Murdaugh, in a desperate attempt to evade questions about his years-long embezzlement scheme from his former law firm, killed his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul outside the dog kennels of their South Carolina estate on June 7, 2021.
But Tim Palmbach, a crime scene analyst and blood spatter expert, testified that his analysis of the crime scene, the use of two different weapons, and the position of the wounds brought him to a different conclusion.
“My opinion is the totality of the evidence is more suggestive of a two-shooter scenario,” Palmbach said.
To support his theory, Palbach explained to Colleton County jurors that he concluded Paul was standing upright in the feed room by the dog kennels when he suffered an “oblique-angled” shot to the chest. The shooter, he said, would have “definitely” been outside the door.
“I frankly think he was startled by that shot,” Palmbach said. “I believe he had no idea it was coming. He took the shot to the chest and very soon after, the one to the back of his head.”
The second shot, the expert said, would have been fired at such close range that it would have caused biological material to be sprayed throughout the room. Some of the brain matter and other fluids would have hit the shooter—who also would have been “kind of out of it” for a short period because of the impact from the shot and other biological matter.
Palmbach told the jury that he finds it improbable that the same shooter could have recovered quickly enough to drop the shotgun, pick up a rifle, and shoot Maggie five times at close range. He added that he believes Maggie was facing her attacker and that evidence suggests she “for sure” moved at some point during the shooting.
The shotgun and the .300 Blackout rifle allegedly used in the murders have never been recovered. Palmbach noted that he believes it would have been impractical for a single shooter to carry two long guns.
Palmbach’s testimony speaks to one of the hallmark arguments in the defense’s case. Throughout the trial, defense attorneys have stressed that there is no clear evidence to tie Murdaugh to the crime scene and no explanation as to why and how the former lawyer could have used two guns in such a short period of time.
Prosecutors did not address that question in their case, instead showing jurors cell phone data and ballistics and financial-crime evidence to make their argument that Murdaugh killed his wife and son. A video Paul took minutes before his death in the dog kennels on which Murdaugh’s voice could be heard was also presented to the jury—which demolished his previous claims that he was not at the scene just before the murders.
Taking the stand in his own defense last week, Murdaugh admitted that he had been at the kennels until just minutes before the murders. He added that he was asleep at the main house when Paul and Maggie were shot and that he only lied to the police in a drug-induced paranoia.
“I did lie to them,” Murdaugh said on Thursday. “As my addiction evolved over time, I would get into these situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid thinking.”
Murdaugh faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the murders. The defense could rest its case as soon as Monday afternoon. Before deliberations begin, however, the jury will take a field trip to the crime scene at the defense’s request.
